The Basic Elements of Stage Design

The mood of a production can shift throughout the play.The best way to do this is usually through lighting. However, the set designer must create a scene that takes and reflects light so that the lighting designer can use it to project the mood to...

Over the many centuries of theatre, all over the world stage designers have created their amazing art for plays, musicals, operas, and worship productions. From a simple painted backdrop to sophisticated LED projection screens that can project almost any image imaginable, the stage designer has always been an indispensible member of the creative production team.

The famous American director and stage designer Robert Edmond Jones said that the primary function of a stage designer is support the natural powers of the actor. What Jones was saying is that the actor's job is to tell the story of the play. It is the designer's job to create a physical and theatrical world that enables the actor to do this.

So how does a stage designer achieve this? Below are some basic principles and functions that all stage designers follow to create the world of the play.

Tell the Story

The main function of stage design is to support the story of the play. Stage designers must create sets, costumes, sound, and lighting to serve the purpose of the play. For instance, if the play takes place in a diner, then the stage designer can easily recreate that diner on stage. However, there is more to the art than just recreating reality. Usually there is a deeper meaning within the story that connects with the designer and audience. It is the designer's job to find this point of view and express it through the art of design. This is where art departs from realism and the design becomes more powerful.

Sometimes the stage designer will find a visual metaphor about the play. For instance, if the play's point of view is about restriction and frustration, then the designer could use the metaphor of a brick wall that blocks the characters from reaching their goals. If the play is about the joy and freedom of nature, then the designer could use flowing water on stage to symbolize life and joy. This type of design approach evokes strong emotional reactions from the audience.

Costume designers create clothes that the characters would wear according to their situations. This helps illuminate and describe the characters to the audience, which in turn aids the actors in telling the story of their characters.

Create the Mood

The mood of a production can shift throughout the play. It is the stage designer's job to help support this mood. The best way to do this is usually through lighting. However, the set designer must design a set that takes and reflects light so that the lighting designer can use it to project the mood to the audience.

The costume designer can also create mood. Dark costumes can help evoke a somber mood. Bright, colorful costumes can create joy and excitement. Highly tailored costumes can evoke a feeling of order and restriction. Loose costumes can create a feeling of casualness and freedom.

Create Composition and Focus

As stage design is art, good visual composition is a necessity. This includes how large and small items are arranged on stage. It also takes into account the line, form, texture and mass of all the items on stage. Composition can create a feeling of order or unease, stability or chaos. In addition, composition can be changed just by how the lighting designer lights and reveals the set. As theatre is an art that occurs over time, the composition of the stage set can change from light cue to light cue.

Focus is created through stage composition and lighting. The lighting designer can intensify and darken different parts of the stage to guide the audience's eye around the space. How the light hits the set can also help direct the focus of the audience. In addition, costumes can create composition though combinations of color, line, texture, and value. Combined, all the designers create composition for each theatrical moment in the play.

Reveal the Space

The stage designer can dramatically change the audience's perception of the space. Reality states that the stage itself is usually located in a large black box called a theater. Through the art of stage design, the audience can be made to believe that the space has magically changed to an endless natural vista, a dark claustrophobic box, or a single spot lit area. All this occurs through the designers' “dramatic imagination,” and is communicated through the designers' craft to stimulate the audience's theatrical imagination.

As in mood, the dramatic space can be changed from moment to moment through creative and imaginative stage lighting. The director, lighting designer, and set designer collaborate in the planning of the set design so that these changes can occur. Through this collaboration, the director can utilize the stage design to tell the story of the play.

So in tandem with the director, stage designers serve as creators of the visual world of the play. Through the artistic creations of the designers who create the world the actors live in, the audience receives a powerful and emotionally charged theatrical and worship experience.

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David Martin Jacques is a professional lighting designer, architectural lighting consultant, and Head of Stage Design at Long Beach State University. His book, Introduction to the Musical Art of Stage Lighting Design, is available on amazon.com